Zimbabwe's last remaining white commercial farmers have been told that a "lucky" few might be able to keep some land, but the future of farming was for blacks only.
Land minister Dydimus Mutasa's words were backed up with deeds as the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), representing mainly white farmers, disclosed that the ruling ZANU-PF government had recently increased the pace of dispossessing white-owned farmland, with eviction notices being served on 15 farmers in Chiredzi, a district in southeastern Zimbabwe, bringing to 90 the number of farmers ordered off their land in the past five months.
"There are black people still landless out there and, as long as those people remain, we will continue to take farms for resettlement," Mutasa reportedly told the local media. "White farmers do not represent the future of farming in this country, blacks do. At the end of it all, I don't expect to see any more white farmers, just successful black farmers. But of course, like with everything in life, there are the lucky ones; only the lucky ones among the outgoing farmers could remain."
According to Mutasa, "We are basically looking at those white farmers who have been relating well in terms of good human relationships. Their names will be submitted to me and, after vetting, some will get offer letters for land."
The minister's comments appear to indicate that President Robert Mugabe's government intends to get rid of most, if not all, the remaining white farmers, a process that began in 2000 with the fast-track land reform programme to redistribute white-owned farmland to landless blacks.
Food and agricultural experts warned that the removal of white farmers would be disastrous in a nation faced with chronic food shortages, brought about mainly by the upheavals in the agricultural sector. The government has blamed drought for food shortages in previous years, but more recently has denied that food was in short supply.
CFU spokesperson Emily Crooks told IRIN that the membership was unsettled by the lands minister's statement and warned that food security would be difficult to achieve if the responsibility to produce maize, the staple food, and other agricultural produce was left solely to black farmers.
"We are actually seeking further clarification about Mutasa's comments, because they seem to be contradicting government's latest policy of giving land back to white farmers who have reapplied ... But, in the event that all land is taken, I think food production will be heavily compromised because it is experience that is needed here," said Crooks.
Agricultural production in Zimbabwe, once known as the breadbasket of Africa, has slumped by more than 50 percent since the government instituted its land reform programme, which also ushered in an era of hyperinflation, now running at 1,281 percent a year - the highest in the world - and acute shortages of foreign currency, fuel, food, water, electricity and medical supplies, with unemployment touching 80 percent.
Before 2000, Zimbabwe had about 4,500 white commercial farmers, now there are fewer than 600. In late 2006 the government said it would return land to white farmers who were still interested in farming and issue them with 99-year leases. So far, 16 white farmers have reportedly received leases, along with hundreds more black farmers.
Edward Mkhosi, shadow minister for agriculture in the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, warned that the ongoing evictions of white farmers from their land could cause food shortages to persist, as black farmers were battling to produce anything on the farms allocated to them, as a result of the government's failure to supply new farmers with agricultural inputs.
"It is public knowledge that our own black farmers lack the capacity to produce anything, be it tobacco or maize. They are ill-equipped, they have no inputs or adequate knowledge to go about farming and this is having far-reaching consequences in the agricultural sector," Mkhosi said.
"Surely it would be detrimental if government was to go by what Mutasa is saying. Already we are grappling with food shortages due to lack of production in the farming sector, and it is a problem wrought by government through its land reforms. If we are serious, as a nation, about empowering our people with the land that we are distributing, we have to empower them with inputs as well, so that they can produce enough food, or we will starve as a nation," Mkhosi said.
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made was unavailable for comment.
Faced with drought, disruptions in the farming sector and an economy in freefall, Zimbabwe, once a net exporter of food, is battling to produce enough to feed itself, and instead relies heavily on donor support and food imports from other countries. Humanitarian aid agencies have warned that 1.4 million people will need urgent food aid this year.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
